Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has never been famous for swimming with the tide. He did not disappoint this time either with his first X comment early Wednesday morning reacting to the news of the US presidential elections: “The biggest comeback in US political history! Congratulations to President Trump on his enormous win. A much needed victory for the World!”.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, was just as quick to comment on the stunning news from across the pond – swiftly reminding his Facebook followers how politics is an empirical genre, and Hungary remembers fondly the Donald Trump years. Back then, bilateral relations were on the up, and dangerous global conflicts were addressed by dialogue and negotiations.
Looking at Hungarian-US relations, it is indeed hard not to see the sharp contrast between the 2016-2020 period and either the previous or the following four years. In February 2019, Mike Pompeo visited Budapest. That April, we signed the Defence Cooperation Agreement. It reached a zenith in May, when I was fortunate to join PM Orbán on his official visit to the White House.
It had taken 18 years for the Hungarian leader to return to the Oval Office, and 13 years for any Hungarian Head of Government to be a guest there.
These intervals are far too long in such an important relation between close allies. In the last four years, the personal relations remained friendly even after the President had left his office.
The Hungarian PM was a returning guest in both Trump’s Golf Club in New Jersey and at Mar-a-Lago. At the same time, the Democratic administration cooled ties spectacularly.
The high-level engagements disappeared. Budapest got a strikingly non-diplomatic, interventionist and ideological US Ambassador; the chief of communications of the Hungarian ruling party was quick to bid him farewell in a Facebook comment just minutes after the US election results had emerged.
As I write this piece, heads of state are arriving to the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, the venue of the European Political Community (EPC) summit.
Sir Keir Starmer visits my capital for the first time as UK Prime Minister. Just one day after the participating leaders woke up to the news of the historic Trump victory in the US, they have a golden opportunity to discuss geopolitical reality following a changing of the guard across the Atlantic.
The first EPC was convened in the autumn of 2022. Since then, the war in Ukraine and the European security questions have consistently been top of each instalment’s agenda.
The timing and setting for the Budapest event could not be better. It will be hosted by the Hungarian leader, who may have the most direct line to the US President-elect of all the continent’s leaders, with the participation of 42 Heads of State or Government, the leaders of the European Union institutions, the Secretaries General of the Council of Europe and Nato and a representative of the OSCE. It turned into a perfect platform for instant stock-taking, and discussing what the future holds for Europe with Trump in the White House.
The US may be far away from the continent, but the major political issues are very similar.
Migration dominated the presidential election campaign and it is also on the agenda of the EPC. The question of economic performances and prices seemed to be a decisive factor in America’s choice and the competitiveness of Europe is also something that the leaders will discuss in Budapest.
After the emotionally heated reactions to Trump’s victory, now it is time to settle down, and collectively take a look at the opportunities for prosperity and greater security for the Western World.
Ferenc Kumin is the Hungarian Ambassador to the Court of St James’s